The Baton Rouge Health District is seeking a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan a train stop for the anticipated Baton Rouge-to-New Orleans Amtrak passenger route.
If successful, the district will compete with other recipients for up to $20 million for construction, says Steven Ceulemans, the district’s executive director.
The MediRAIL project, as he calls it, would seek to incorporate the new station into other district infrastructure improvements to facilitate medically necessary evacuations in the event of a major storm.
The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act established the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation discretionary grant program with $100 million, appropriated annually for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
“They’re looking for unique and new mobility concepts,” Ceulemans says.
While the station would serve all travelers on the route, the project focused on medical evacuation is the first of its kind that Ceulemans is aware of in North America.
A 2019 plan commissioned by Build Baton Rouge recommended putting the district’s station south of Picardy Avenue, west of Bluebonnet Boulevard and north of the railroad tracks. Sites east and west of Midway Boulevard, currently under construction behind Baton Rouge General and Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, also are viable, the plan suggests.
State officials are awaiting word on $200 million in federal grant funding to pay for infrastructure improvements along the Baton Rouge-to-New Orleans route, primarily for the bridge over the Bonnet Carré Spillway. Gov. John Bel Edwards has expressed confidence that the state’s application will be successful.
